‘Late’ Torre story Joe Torre’s Monday-night sitdown with David Letter man paid huge dividends for “Late Show,” which outrated “The Tonight Show” in New York while delivering the show’s best numbers of the year on Ch. 2 (415,000 viewers vs. 237,000 viewers for “To night” on Ch. 4). The two shows also tied in the metered- markets. Other ratings news:

* FNC’s “Fox & Friends” is up 8 percent in viewers (876,000) from October ’06.

* Record October numbers for Glenn Beck on Headline News in total viewers (360,000) and persons 25-54.

* History Channel’s “Lost Book of Nostradamus“: 3.5 million viewers last Sunday.

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“Grey’s Anatomy”/”Private Practice” creator Shonda Rhimes will be honored by Glamour magazine at its an nual Women of the Year Awards Monday (Lincoln Center). It won’t be the usual fete for Rhimes – she’ll be presented with her award by “Grey’s” stars Eric Dane, Justin Chambers and James Pick ens Jr. and “Practice” co-star Taye Diggs. Expect flash bulbs to be a- poppin’. * * *

Noted animal-rights activist Bob Barker is speaking out about Ellen DeGeneres, who made headlines recently by breaking a contract with an animal shelter after adopting a dog – then giving it to her hairdresser instead of return ing said pooch (named Iggy) to the shelter like she was supposed to do. The shelter, in turn, took Iggy away from its new family. Ellen cried.

“Everybody is right and ev erybody is wrong,” Barker tells Billy Bush on tomor row’s “Access Hollywood.” “First of all, the rescue group . . . should have a clause in its contract that if you are not going to keep this animal you are going to have to bring it back . . . Ellen, unfortu nately, did not read the con tract . . . I understand [the hairdresser] was going to provide a good home for it, but what should the rescue group do? It hadn’t checked out the home.”